Investigator says he’s got no proof of wrong-doing by Helena Guergis

By:Les Whittingtonand Bruce Campion-Smith Published on Wed May 12 2010

OTTAWA—A flamboyant Derrick Snowdy says Rahim Jaffer portrayed himself as a conduit to federal government grants, that he hung out with a shady businessman and — in a sudden twist — drew in the president of the federal Liberal party, calling him the lawyer to an alleged fraudster.

The Toronto private investigator fascinated, stunned and baffled MPs investigating the Jaffer-Guergis affair. But in the end he raised more questions than ever about why Prime Minister Stephen Harper dumped Jaffer’s wife, Helena Guergis, from cabinet and called in the RCMP.

His testimony Wednesday on Parliament Hill was most surprising for what he didn’t offer — incriminating evidence of misdeeds by Guergis.

Harper announced her ouster from cabinet and caucus April 9, saying his office had “become aware of serious allegations” regarding her conduct — allegations believed to have originated with Snowdy.

But Snowdy told a Commons committee that he didn’t have a smoking gun.

“I have nothing — I have no evidence, or no information, with respect to the conduct of Ms. Guergis in my possession or knowledge,” he stated.

Instead, he said the mere threat of bad optics, coming after a string of embarrassing gaffes by Guergis, may have been enough to force Harper’s hand.

“This is an issue of optics,” Snowdy said.

He said he saw Guergis at a dinner with Nazim Gillani, an accused fraud artist who is at the centre of the saga involving the former minister and her husband, the former chair of the Conservative caucus.

“When the minister for the status of women is dining in a restaurant with a man awaiting trial on serious crimes and with a history of serious criminal activity and an escort . . . given the recent attention she had received, you tell me how the Hill here would here responded to that photograph or that video showing up,” he said.

For nearly two hours, the heavy-set, talkative Snowdy wowed MPs with revelations, accusations, behind-the-scenes tidbits and speculation. He talked about “MO” — modus operandi — and gangbangers and even used the image of a neurosurgeon doing a vasectomy as he walked MPs through the murky world of private investigators and his brush with Gillani and Jaffer.

He reinforced the emerging image on Parliament Hill of Jaffer as a big talker, who talked up his ties to government, where he had served as a Conservative MP.

Snowdy told MPs a client of his reported Jaffer painting himself last year as the “back door” to gain access to Ottawa’s $1 billion green infrastructure fund. That was Jaffer’s “niche” in the former MP’s relationship with Gillani, , Snowdy said.

Snowdy also told of a meeting in which Gillani and Jaffer “coached” a firm known as HD Retail on how to dream up “green initiatives” to tap green infrastructure funds. They told the company he should rewrite his business plan to say they were investing in energy-efficient light bulbs and buying hybrid vehicles for its fleet, all in a bid to get government money.

The hearing took a turn when under questioning from Conservative MP Patrick Brown, Snowdy said that Alf Apps, a lawyer and president of the Liberal Party of Canada, had acted for Gillani.

“I did some investigating and found that indeed Mr. Apps did work for Mr. Gillani . . . with respect to litigating one of Mr. Gillani’s victims into bankruptcy,” Snowdy said.

“Mr. Apps was the getaway driver for Mr. Gillani,’’ Snowdy said of the lawyer’s role in a particular case.

Even as testimony was unfolding, Apps’ law firm, Fasken Martineau, quickly issued a statement denying any ongoing ties with Gillani. The statement said Gillani approached Apps in November 2006, in relation to legal services for his firm International Strategic Investments. Apps met with Gillani, received some documents and accepted a retainer cheque. But “very shortly” after, the law firm “declined” to act for Gillani and Apps returned the cheque.

“Fasken Martineau has had no professional dealings with Mr. Gillani or International Strategic Investments in the intervening period,” the statement said.

Apps declined to say more when contacted by the Star. But when asked about Snowdy’s suggestion that he had an ongoing business relationship with Snowdy, Apps said in an email, “not true.”

Gillani called CBC-TV on Wednesday evening to say Apps had acted for him for less than 10 days and it was “unfair” to link him to Apps.

To the surprise of Liberal MPs, Snowdy testified that he had met Conservative party lawyer Arthur Hamilton on Monday. Hamilton is the lawyer who passed on allegations from Snowdy last month that led Harper to dump Guergis from cabinet and refer her activities to the Mounties and federal ethics commissioner.

Snowdy testified Wednesday that when he and Hamilton met Monday, they did not discuss his upcoming appearance at the Commons government operations committee. But Snowdy did say that on Monday he and Hamilton discussed aspects of the Jaffer-Guergis affair. And Snowdy told the committee he tipped Hamilton to the link between Apps and Gillani.

Harper has never given details of the allegations that led to Guergis’ ouster and Snowdy suggested Wednesday the Prime Minister’s Office may have exaggerated the information.

Snowdy said an official from the ethics commissioner’s office read the allegations against Guergis attributed to him in a letter to the commissioner from Guy Giorno, Harper’s chief of staff. The claims were greatly exaggerated, Snowdy told MPs, adding that he later telephoned Conservative lawyer Hamilton and chewed him out.

“There were a number of profanities from me to Mr. Hamilton,” Snowdy said. “I was not very happy with the characterization of that conversation in that context.”

“There is a wider story here. It had become increasingly clear, even more so after the resignation of Minister Guergis . . . that she simply could not serve as a cabinet minister given the facts that are now very well known in public,” Soudas said.

He cited evidence that Jaffer had used her parliamentary office and email accounts for his own business dealings.

He said that the government has “turned the page” on the controversy, pointedly adding, “I don’t anticipate she will ever rejoin the Conservative caucus or the government.”

Jaffer and Guergis have denied any wrongdoing.

Investigations in Ottawa have shown a pattern in which Jaffer met senior Conservative government figures to discuss possible federal grants for private companies from the infrastructure fund. However, Jaffer denies acting as an unregistered lobbyist.

Gillani himself appeared before the committee several weeks ago, portraying himself as a polished businessman versed in the world of venture capitalism.

But Snowdy savaged that image Wednesday, depicting Gillani as a failed businessman.

“None of his corporations survive more than two or three years,” Snowdy said.

Asked by one MP how Gillani made his money, Snowdy bluntly replied, “Fraud.”

“You’re basically telling us Mr. Gillani is a fraudster . . . he’s a con artist . . . and person who would be best be avoided?” Bloc Québécois MP Claude Guimond asked.

“Absolutely,” Snowdy replied.

He took issue with Gillani’s claim in his committee appearance that he does not have an interest in an escort agency and that at least one woman who accompanied him to a Toronto dinner was not an escort.

“His lady friend also holds a part-time employment through Cachet ladies escorts,” Snowdy said, adding that Gillani had told people he was an equity partner in the agency.

He said Gillani conducted “numerous business activities at a Toronto-area burlesque establishment where he frequently invited clients and business associates.”

A flamboyant figure who reportedly arrived in Ottawa in a borrowed red Ferrari on Tuesday night, Snowdy has liabilities of $13 million, according to bankruptcy records.

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